Tag Archives: Skill For Life

driving instructors

How to be a better driver in Bristol

bristol IAM sflI’ve written before about my IAM Skill For Life Advanced Motoring course and how much I learned and have benefited since.

But I might have liked a choice of doing this on my own or as part of a group of like-minded others in the same boat.

And despite being happy with my 1:1 arrangement with a brilliant female Observer who has become a friend I might have chosen the latter for the camaraderie…

So I was delighted to meet Martin Evans at the IAM conference in Birmingham in October. Martin is the Secretary of Bristol Advanced Motorists where they organise precisely this group support for local motorists. And are catering for an equal spread of men and women as you can see from the photo.

Let’s start with the costs. The Skill For Life programme costs £149 and Club members get a 10% discount. This includes everything you need to take and pass the advanced driving test including as many 1:1 sessions with an Observer as necessary (usually 10-ish), local IAM support, 12 months IAM membership, the advanced test fee and the excellent ‘How to be a Better Driver’ handbook.

Bristol Advanced Motorists

Bristol Advanced Motorists organise courses where Skill For Life participants come together in a classroom situation to refresh and top up their motoring knowledge and driving skills. Having bought the Skill For Life package, this is free and here is how the group option works.

The course dates for 2016 MUST BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE and are as follows:
Wednesday 20 April
Wednesday 13 July
Wednesday 19 October

1/ Two seminars are held on a Wednesday evening in North Bristol.

2/ Skill For Life participants (called Associates from now on) are then allocated an Observer (from the gallery) to arrange as many drives as they need (within reason!) in preparation for the Advanced Test (which they may or may not take but will be encouraged to).

Screenshot-5

3/ In a third seminar they ‘Meet An Examiner’ to get a better understanding of what is required and of course ask questions.

4/ In between all this most Associates arrange drives weekly or fortnightly and take between 6 and 12 observed drives spread over 3 – 6 months before they are ready for the test.

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With a 90% pass rate to be proud of and the recipient of the IAM Group Achievement award (out of 200 groups) at the 2015 conference this is a formula that works and is fun.

I wholeheartedly recommend this to this blog audience. And of course this option is equally available and beneficial to men and women alike.

FOXY

For more information

Visit the IAM main website to buy Skill For Life from the Shop. NB: FOXY Club members get a 10% discount which they should book from within the Members Area of this website.

And if you live in Bristol, you can then visit the IAM Bristol website and book onto a course to suit, well in advance.

road safety

How to impress women with your driving skills

Road-Rage-Dump-E-card1The IAM have just sent me details of recent research from a behavioural psychologist confirming what I/we know to be true.

That male and female motorists are different and respond differently to behavioural triggers.

What intrigued me most was that 80% of women found bad driving to be a real turn off (ie they are talking about men here) whereas only 48% of men felt that way about women drivers.

Now I’m not sure that these percentages are borne out of driving ability by gender (let’s not go there, I’m not feeling that brave today…) but it does suggest that if you want to impress the opposite sex, more men than women need to drive better than they do.

In this study, 50 participants – 25 women and 25 men – took part to detect the impact of bad driving on their levels of attraction. Reactions were measured in terms of pupil dilation, blink rate, pulse rate, body language and a questionnaire. Here’s how they fared…

Key findings

+ 80% of women found bad driving a turn off
+ 60% of women displayed an increase in pulse rate indicating stress levels watching footage of bad driving
+ Attraction levels in women dropped by nearly 50 per cent after watching footage of bad driving
+ Women showed signs of anxiety while watching a man driving badly –furrowing their brows and shaking their heads
+ 88 per cent of women said they’d prefer to date someone who is always late, than one who breaks the speed limit
+ After footage of good driving, 24% of women felt more positive towards the driver.

Women’s top five driving turn-offs

1. Illegal overtaking
2. Road rage
3. Bad parking
4. Texting while driving
5. 3-point turn

Driving that impresses women

Fortunately guys there are ways to check out, improve your driving and impress her in future. If you are as good a driver as you say you are (there’s the FOXY gauntlet guys) why not take a totally free driver assessment from the IAM to be sure it’s not you behind the wheel she’s turned off by.

And ladies, this offer is equally as appropriate for you because it’s often the confidence boost we need to prove our safer driver gender record.

And whether we are good, bad or indifferent drivers, EVERYONE can improve their skills so what’s not to like about this IAM offer?

Here’s how to claim this offer

You can claim this totally FREE offer and be sure there’ll be no follow up spam or efforts to sell you more training.

Here’s the information and link you need.

Clearly the IAM hopes you WILL want more trainin afterwards and if you do, I suggest you read my review of the Skill For Life programme that sorted my driving out and gave me back my driving confidence after being injured in a road accident.

This free offer is valid until the end of the year and comes with no obligation in terms of future driver training. Although it sounds to me as if a lot of male drivers could do with taking this further, if they want to impress their date in future…

women drivers

A motoring Skill For Life – the FOXY verdict

I am delighted to say I passed my Advanced Driving Test at the end of September. I am now a fully fledged member of the IAM, am to be presented with my certificate saying this at a later date (!) and expect my insurance premium to plummet. I’m not so sure about this last bit yet but I’ll keep you posted…

I have previously written about the reasons why I wanted to do this and what I learned in the early stages. This blog is simply to sum up the entire experience and how I feel about it now.

Just to recap, I started the Skill For Life programme in June and whilst I could have taken the full year to prepare myself for the test I wanted to do this in a shorter period. You can’t gauge when you’re ready to take it of course, that’s up to your IAM Observer aka driving instructor.

sue-drivingMy driving instructor was key to my progress and ultimate success.

Sue Haynes Blinco is a driving instructor with the Sussex Driving School and we would meet at Hickstead’s service station off the A23, heading off into the wilds of Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath for observed drives, manouevres and such like. I had asked for a female driving instructor simply because I felt it would be more fun and less like being ‘told’ what to do…

I was right in terms of Sue’s style. Instead of saying ‘do this’ or ‘do that’ which may be more appropriate for new drivers, Sue would ask me why I did something and how I felt about my latest drive or manouevre. We could then discuss the whys and wherefores of any areas I wasn’t confident about or getting right.

All this was happening whilst I was gradually reading through the excellent handbook that comes with the Skill For life pack, so I was starting to learn what was expected of me there.

Driving lessons I have learned

To begin with I must say that the test was a lot less daunting than I expected. My examiner was a retired Police Inspector turned actor who had recently moved to the South Coast. He instantly put me at ease, it was a beautifully sunny day and we chatted whilst I drove. Much more relaxing that way. Yes he thought I could be more decisive at roundabouts (I agree -I was driving ultra carefully as you’d expect) and apparently I missed two 40 speed signs so stayed at 30 until I could be sure. You can’t afford to risk this because driving faster than the speed limit is an instant fail and I had only just heard about a young driver who had failed her driving test for doing 38mph in a 30 zone…

I now enjoy my driving a lot more than I used to. There’s too much to be done to lose concentration although I imagine that’s the challenge to stop me from lapsing into my sloppy old ways. Much more use of mirrors, much more awareness of blindspots, a much better understanding about the need to be in gear or with the handbrake on at all times and a better appreciation of the two second rule in heavy traffic.

This makes me a safer and more confident driver but it also affects my confidence as a passenger. Not mentioning any names, I wish other drivers I travel with were as careful as me. My husband for example thinks I drive too slowly although the last time he said so I was driving at 30mph (correctly) approaching a dual carriageway – it did seem slow but it was the correct speed. I then felt the need to remind him that I was driving so he could drink a couple of beers after seeing the motoring film Rush…

I enjoy driving on country roads more than ever and the simple fact that if you approach a bend at the right speed, positioned for maximum visibility and in the right gear you are not risking taking your hands off the steering wheel to change gear or vehicle stability by braking mid turn and can make a suitably smooth and powered exit afterwards. That’s the sort of commonsense driving intelligence that I never thought about previously.

I am totally comfortable shuffling (ie pushing pulling) the steering wheel now whereas before I happily crossed my hands on the wheel, especially during manouevres. It makes sense that you need to be in control of your steering as much as you can be and the ten to two wheel position gives you that capability.

Of course there are many other things that I’ve learned (such as the more I practised parallel parking by the book the more rubbish I became) but perhaps one of the most practical lesson was how to use my 6 speed gearbox to better effect to save money on fuel. Just look at the revs…

On a less favourable note I don’t find my BMW I Series the ideal car for me. At 5 ft 4” and to reach the pedals I need to sit too close to the steering wheel, have to turn my head too far to see the passenger side mirror and my visibility is severely limited. Having test driven other cars recently I feel a lot more comfortable and have better visibility in other car makes and models. Having said that, a BMW may well have saved my life when I was a passenger in a bad car accident two years ago.

But when I go car shopping the next time I know that my driving comfort and all round visibility are considerations that will rate more highly in my eventual decision making then they might have done in the past. Alongside affordability, economy, practicality, safety, reliability, looks and colour of course!

About the IAM’s Skill For Life package

The IAM’s Skill For Life package costs £149 (2015) and Club members get a 10% discount. In addition to the observed driving lessons (I had about 10 x 2 hour sessions) you get a highly readable and easy to dip into handbook plus a free RAC subscription for a year. This makes it remarkable value for money.

Recently I have spotted other versions of driving courses using the phrase Skill for Life or similar. As worthy as any safety programme is, to become a better, safer and more confident driver takes more than a day so be sure to choose the IAM course. You need to commit to this and invest time to become an Advanced Driver which is why I thoroughly recommend the IAM’s Skill For Life programme.

FOXY

women drivers

How to be a better, safer and more confident driver

aka IAM’s Skill For Life training programme Part 2

If you’d like to know why I’m taking the IAM’s programme please see my earlier blog.

girl-in-red-car-mirror

I decided to sign up for the IAM’s Skill For Life course in May this year. It cost £149 (2015 price) and Club members get a 10% discount.

Within the week I’d received my IAM membership details in the post including a free year’s RAC subscription and a glossy handbook to take me through the training programme and process.

My IAM observer

Another few days and I was contacted by my Sussex observer called Sue. I had requested a female thinking this was unlikely but because I knew it would make me feel more relaxed about the process. I recognised I’d have to be totally honest about my many motoring shortcomings and I didn’t relish the thought of a male ‘Advanced Motorist’ making me feel foolish in any way… My apologies to male IAM observers, I’m sure you wouldn’t have done this but that’s how I felt at the time.

Sue has more than lived up to my expectations. A professional driving instructor with the highest qualifications, she is also tolerant, appreciative and highly approachable. She has made me think for myself; rather than tell me what to do she has helped me understand how to become a better driver.

So far I have had five x two hour lessons and Sue thinks I am about half way through the course. I can’t explain how much I have learned to date and whilst I am not prepared to share our intimate and often ‘laugh out loud’ conversations, I now know just how much I didn’t know…

What have I learned to date?​

During the course of my observed lessons I have learned to

+ Change my driving position. I drove far too close to the wheel. Enough to cause me injury in a minor accident I’m told. I have since adjusted my seat a bit but BMW seats seem designed for taller people (like men?) especially compared to the likes of Citroen’s C1 that I test drove last week and which fitted me like a glove. On reflection, I probably need a new car to achieve that perfect and safer seating position…
+ Turn right at a right angle (rather than my banana like turns) to cross quickly in front of oncoming traffic and to avoid clipping an oncoming car.
+ Look ahead to see what’s coming – I now scan the horizon looking for clues; this also keeps me highly alert.
+ Shuffle the driving wheel through my hands and not to cross my hands whilst doing manouevres – I know I have more control now.
+ Assess traffic conditions in advance and to judge what gear I need – I used to turn into a residential area with parked cars on both side without anticipating any need to stop quickly for all sorts of hazards – I need first not 2nd gear here.

So far I’m driving smoother, I’m using my 6 speed gearbox more efficiently, I’m more aware of other motorists overall and I’m using brakes to slow me rather than the gearbox as I used to.

Yes it’s work in progress and yes I think I probably will take the test at the end of the course (what have I got to lose if I fail?) but I shall keep you posted on my progress.

What do I think of the programme so far?

I am bowled over by the value for money of such a helpful programme for any novice and/or nervous driver wanting to refresh their driving skills, save money on fuel and become a better, safer and more confident driver.

All for just £149 less 10% Club discount to include c10-12 x 2 hour lessons in addition to a year’s free breakdown insurance and other IAM membership benefits.

I’m not sure your observer will be as marvellous as mine but you can always ask for a female in your area and keep your fingers crossed you’ll strike lucky too.

You can find out more from the IAM’s website.

To save 10% members should login to the VIP area of this website to find out how.

Watch out for Part 3 later this year…

FOXY

women drivers

Ideal for novice and nervous drivers

aka IAM’s Skill For Life training programme Part 1

IAM_handbook

I am taking the IAM’s Skill For Life training programme and, based on my experience, want to promote this as the ideal choice for women who are either novice drivers, nervous after an accident or road rage incident perhaps, or simply want some tips and to be brought up to date with motoring matters years after passing their driving test.

A refresher driving programme for women?

A couple of posts on the Mumsnet website got me thinking. One was from a Mum whose husband criticised everything she did behind the driving wheel, so much so he’d turned her from an averagely adequate motorist into a gibbering incompetent, wrecking her driving self esteem in the process.

The other was from a lady who had been injured in a fairly major road accident and had understandably lost her motoring mojo as a consequence. They were both in need of a fairly major confidence boost and unless this came soon, both were likely to find excuses not to drive in future.

Add to these the number of recently divorced and widowed ladies that join the Club for moral support, finding they need to drive again after years of their husband doing this for them. This made me realise that there IS a demand for a refresher style of driving course for women. By that I mean one that

+ encourages and compliments us more than criticises us
+ comes in a packaged form and is affordable
+ allows the motorist to dictate the content (because we usually know what we need to improve upon)
+ gives us a flexible time schedule to complete the job – up to a year I’d say
+ was fun to take…

This all coincided with me thinking about taking a refresher driving course myself. After all, I run a motoring club and probably should be better at motoring than I am and it’s been close to 30 years since I passed my test and I only had 13 lessons before that…

In short I had decided that I wanted to be a better and safer driver in future.

The IAM’s Skill For Life programme

Under normal circumstances I doubt I would have looked twice at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) because that status sounded so male and all I wanted was to be a better, safer driver, not take on the Top Gear team… However I soon discovered my error when our two organisations were working side by side during a recent roadshow of Ladies Evenings in the South East. I quickly learned that their Skill For Life course offered precisely what I was looking for so I signed up and have since negotiated a 10% discount to benefit Club members.

This programme normally costs £149 so FOXY’s discount reduces this to c£135 and I’m keen to tell as many women drivers of all ages (and young male drivers who realise the risk they run on our roads) about this and that it includes…

+ Free RAC breakdown cover
+ As many observed driving lessons as you need in the company of a local IAM observer (probably an average of c10-12 x two hour lessons during the course of a year)
+ Full IAM membership benefits (magazine, insurance service etc)
+ An optional test at the end (if you want to get the Advanced Motorist badge)

You might save money on your insurance afterwards (I haven’t got this far yet) but that’s missing the point for me. I now know what I was doing wrong previously and what I need to do to become a better driver. It’s not going to be a quick fix but I’m going to be safer and more confident as a result of my new found knowledge and experience. And it will then become a skill I top up for life I hope.

If you’d like to know how I fared and what I’ve learned so far (after 5 x two hour lessons) I’ll be writing about this in my next posting.

FOXY